IDEO SHOPPING TROLLEY

Organisation
Trigger

IDEO
The IDEO shopping trolley was developed at the behest
of ABC television to showcase the process of innovation
and product development.

Objectives

Tools/techniques

To radically improve upon the existing design within five

days.
To reduce the number of trolleys that go missing.
To enhance the reputation of IDEO.
Ethnographic market research, which included
interviewing and observing users, as well as talking with
purchasers and repairers of shopping trolleys.
Secondary market research to determine the need for
such a product.
Hot teams were used in brainstorming sessions.
Fast prototypes were developed, elements of which were
incorporated into the final design and demonstrated at a
grocery store.

Enablers

Reputation and publicity were the primary enablers of the

project.

Tensions

Trade off between time and innovation.

Impact

This product is still at the prototype stage.

Lessons

Even mundane products can be radically improved upon,

in a short time period, if the environment is conducive to
innovation.
Reducing the use of trolleys for other purposes makes
them less likely to go missing.

Synopsis
This case concerns IDEO, an industrial product design firm, presented with a challenge
by ABC News to redesign the common shopping trolley in only five days. While not the
only criteria involved in determining the new design, theft was an issue the team quickly
identified and determined to address in the creation of their prototype. The model they
unveiled at the end of the five-day period was radically different from the traditional
shopping trolley. The central basket, coveted by thieves, was replaced by five removable
baskets whose portability not only reduced the attractiveness of a shopping trolley to
would-be thieves, but also served to make grocery shopping a more efficient and
enjoyable process for shoppers.

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Background to IDEO Shopping Trolley

Shopping trolley theft is a fairly common occurrence in the United States. Insight for the
People, a U.S. government publication, reports that over 1.8 million trolleys are stolen in
the U.S. every year. With prices running from $100 to $300 per trolley, the cost to stores,
and ultimately to consumers, runs to $175,000,000 annually. Thus, theft has become
more than just a mere nuisance to many businesses. Byerly's, the Twin Cities grocery
chain, has elected to prevent trolleys from being taken outside. When a customer checks
out at a Byerly's grocery store, the bag boys load all scanned items into paper bags and
then load these paper bags into large plastic bins. Each bin has a number prominently
displayed on its side. Every time a plastic bin is filled, the customer is given a sheet of
plastic, about the size and thickness of the cover of a typical hard-back book, with a
number on it that corresponds to the one on the plastic bin. These bins are then taken by
the bag boys and loaded onto a ramp comprised of a series of rollers and sent outside.
The customer simply walks out to his or her car and then drives to a covered loading area
next to the building where other bag boys wait with the grocery bins. Upon presentation
of the plastic sheets, the bag boys identify the appropriate bins and then take the
groceries from these bins and load them into the customer's car.
The IDEO case from the United Sates presents an alternative, design-led solution to the
problem of shopping trolley theft. In 2000, the ABC News Show approached the design
firm IDEO with a proposition. They wanted to see an example of how the design process
actually works. The item they selected for redesign was the ubiquitous shopping trolley
found in grocery stores and mass merchandisers around the world. The challenge of this
project was that it had to be completed in only five days. This case was chosen because it
demonstrates the ability of designers to improve the crime resistance of everyday
products. The analysis was conducted through phone and email communications with
Scott Underwood, IDEO Headquarters, and through viewing the ABC New show
Nightline's episode entitled, The Deep Dive. Further information was gained from case
study information provided by David Kelley (2001) in his book on innovation.

Design Process
Research
The design team approached the project by first observing grocery trolleys in use, as well
as watching, meeting and speaking with those who use, buy, and repair shopping trolleys.
According to David Kelley:
"The trick is to find these real experts. The people who are really getting the info are out in
the field meeting with people." (David Kelley).
This identified categories of problems associated with the traditional designs:

Safety - over 22,000 individuals a year, predominantly children, are involved in

shopping trolley related accidents that are serious enough to require hospital
attention.

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Shopping practices - rather than pushing the trolley up and down narrow crowded
isles, some consumers elect to leave their trolley at the end of an isle, select an item,
return to their trolley and then move on to the end of the next isle.
Paying for purchases at the checkout - standing in line consumes a lot of time.
Searching for products customers spend a lot of time searching for particular
products, making it necessary for shoppers to communicate with store personnel to
find out if items are in stock, on sale, or where they are located.

Another issue, though not a primary problem identified by the design team, was that of
shopping trolleys going missing. The IDEO design team identified two primary reasons for
theft. Firstly, homeless people frequently use trolleys as rolling closets. The deep basket
and the mobility of the shopping trolley make it an attractive and affordable way for
homeless people to transport their worldly goods. Secondly, the metal grating in the
basket of the trolley make for a convenient barbecue grill. The challenge thus became
how to eliminate this unintended functionality without rendering the shopping trolley less
effective for its intended users, namely store customers.
The anti-theft issues had to be integrated, however, with the other major design criteria.
David Kelley said that designers were looking for an idea that was "wild and buildable".
Any new design that reduced a trolleys mobility would negatively impact on the potential
solution to one of the other issues. Thus, rather than focusing on how to keep the trolley
from physically being able to be stolen, the design team determined to reduce the appeal
of the new trolley to would-be thieves. The solution the team came up with was to make
the basket of the trolley separable from its frame. The was surmised that:
"There's no value in this cart without the basket because you can't carry anything in it."
(Peter Skillman, designer).
Concept
Rather than the single large metal or plastic basket found on virtually all shopping trolleys
in use today, the team developed a trolley that comprised a series of plastic baskets with
handles. These baskets were similar in size to the smaller hand-held baskets shoppers
use at grocery stores when picking up just a couple of items. These new baskets were
designed to fit into the frame of the trolley.
The prototype design featured a trolley whose sides were constructed of heavy-duty steel
tubing and whose open interior provided space for five shopping baskets. The baskets
were designed to be of a uniform and stackable size and shape, and the shopping trolley
was designed to accept two baskets on a top level and three more on a second level.
Beneath the second level of baskets, steel tubing in the shape of a W connected the two
sides of the trolley together. This space was available for storing bulky items such as
large packages of toilet paper (see figure 1).

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Figure 1: New shopping trolley design

IDEO

Impact
The trolley is currently at the prototype stage and plans for full-scale commercialisation
have not yet been released. Part of the beauty of this design is that it satisfied multiple
design concerns simultaneously. For example, the removable baskets allowed shoppers
to leave their trolley at the end of an isle, select several items, place these items in the
basket, and then return to their trolleys and reattach the basket. This design also helped
to take away the functionality desired by would-be thieves. At checkout, the baskets were
unloaded as the groceries were scanned. The empty baskets were then set aside and
stacked together. This created a new problem though, in that customers still had to get
the bagged groceries out to their cars. The solution to this problem was to design a series
of 12 hangers on the inside of the trolley frame. Groceries bagged in plastic bags were
subsequently hung over these hooks through the opening in the plastic bag that served as
its handle. Shoppers now had no need to take anything but the frame of the trolley
outside. In its reduced state, the newly designed shopping trolley would neither serve as a
good storage device nor a good barbecue grill.
Lessons Learned

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This case demonstrates that innovative solutions to problems of theft and shopping can
be developed relatively quickly. Being based on an analysis of the problems, the process
appeared fairly clinical and rational. However, David Kelley argues that: "Its not
organised, its focused chaos". It is also about a willingness to take risks or, in his words
"Trying stuff and asking for forgiveness". When evaluating new designs, the designer
has to keep asking himself/herself: "What needs should they optimise their solutions to?"
This means trailing new ideas in collaboration with colleagues. In Peter Skillmans
opinion:
"Enlightened trial and error succeeds over the planning of the lone genius (designer).

References, Related Case Studies and Further Reading

David Kelley (2001) The Art of Innovation. US.
U.S. government (2001) Insight for the People. United States.

Contact Details
Mr. Scott Underwood
IDEO Headquarters
Palo Alto
California
United States.

Classification Index

Ekbloms crime classification

BCS crime classification
DAC
Primary motivation
Type of designer
Approach
Sector
Location
Author

Misappropriation
Theft
Protecting profits
Product protection
Industrial
Problem-solving
Retail
Grocery Shops and Supermarkets
Eric Olson

DAC IDEO shopping Cart

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